As High Moon Studios wraps up development on Deadpool, Activision lays off 40 in "restructuring"

With development on the third party action title Deadpool coming to its conclusion, its summer release looming, Activision is reporting that 40 full time employees have been laid off from the team. Reports are saying that the layoffs will not effect High Moon Studios' progress on its other projects, namely Transformers, and that the layoffs are entirely focused on theDeadpoolteam. Not that that means much.

Here's the official line from an Activision representative:

"Activision Publishing consistently works to align its costs with its revenues – this is an ongoing process," Activision says. "With the completion of development on Deadpool, we are taking a reduction in staff at High Moon Studios to better align our development talent against our slate. Approximately, 40 full-time employees will be impacted globally. We are offering those employees who are impacted outplacement counseling services."

Sadly, this is not a delayed April Fool's joke, it's not some sort of twisted Deadpool dark humor either, Activision has really laid off 40 people as they completed their work on the Deadpoolgame. Sadly, this is in-line with Activision's strategy, "restructuring" teams as they finish a game. We'll leave the speculation on the quality of a product where 40 developers were laid off months in advance of its release to you.

Check outDeadpool this summer on PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. We send our warmest thoughts and best wishes to those effected by the layoffs -- hopefully you'll land on your feet at a more deserving studio.

re: As High Moon Studios wraps up development on Deadpool, Activision lays off 40 in "restructuring"

Not sure what to make of it tbh. It could mean Activision is just trying to maximize profit over everything else, which is much like them, or they just know the game couldn't break even after release. Either option isn't one I like much.

re: As High Moon Studios wraps up development on Deadpool, Activision lays off 40 in "restructuring"

I can't even find any official confirmation that this game is being released for PC. The official website only mentions PS3 and XBOX360, and only those versions are available for pre-order from Amazon / Gamestop.